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Stanley Spencer is considered by many to be one of Britain鈥檚 greatest artists. After the outbreak of World War One, Stanley became a medical orderly at the Beaufort War Hospital, and from gloom and desperation he was inspired to create one of the greatest pieces of art in Europe.

When Stanley Spencer started working at the Beaufort, he was at the beck and call of the nurses and matrons. He would scrub and wash floors and look after the patients on the TB ward. He joined his brother Gilbert, with their Mother telling her boys that they would not fight and that doing their bit at home would keep them safe. But after 10 months of being at the Beaufort, Stanley had to break free and applied for overseas service.

Originally an asylum; the Beaufort underwent a major reconstruction between February and May 1915 to be converted into a war hospital.

Even though Spencer鈥檚 time at the Beaufort was a traumatic one he was influenced by it so much that he used his experiences later in his work.

In the 1920s Spencer was approached by Mary and Louis Behrend who wanted to create a memorial to Lieutenant Henry Willoughby Sandham, Mary鈥檚 brother who died at the end of the war. Spencer used his experience of his time at the Beaufort and at the front to paint a number of pictures for the Chapel 鈥� among the most striking is a painting of the busload of soldiers arriving at the gates of the Beaufort (鈥淐onvoy of Wounded Soldiers Arriving at Beaufort Hospital Gates鈥�).

The Sandham Memorial Chapel at Burghclere is seen by many as the high point of Spencer鈥檚 career.

Location: Glenside Campus, University of the West of England BS16 1DD

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